UPDATE: Figured out how to use this trick without a spare bulb (but you will need to borrow one)
Using a spare Hue bulb…
“Who the hell has a spare Hue bulb?!”
… Nobody. But go to the store and get a white hue bulb for $15 to sacrifice for this project.
Then use any third party Hue app that allows you to set the the brightness percentage to a specific # value.
Then set all the hue buttons to any brightness % value (keep the # value in your brain). You can set a separate brightness % for hold, short press, multiple presses… wherever you can fit them! Get crazy… and then hide the bulb away, paint it black, or just embrace it; doesn’t matter, your call.
Now, get into webCoRE
webCoRE?? I’m out.
You don’t need to be a super genious (see? I can’t even spell it) to use webCoRE. It’s well worth the little bit of effort to set it up. Once you’re in, it’s simple! webCoRE looks intimating, but believe me; it’s designed to be easy for you and me (but not your grandmother). Personally, I find webCoRE much easier and more reliable than the official Smartthings app(s), with the bonus of more options. Use this easy to follow guide and you’re on your way!
Now that you’re set up for webCoRE (if you weren’t already, you genious); you can program any of your things to turn on/off/ignite, whatever you choose, in relation to the % of your spare Hue bulb!
Back to the Hue Dimmer…
Using a fancy third party app, program your Hue Dimmer to do whatever, with whichever Hue bulbs. Then add the neglected, but appreciated, Hue White bulb’s % values that were correlated with webCoRE!
TL;DR
“Why??”
Well, many reasons. But here’s an example:
Situation: Bathroom light and fan are on the same circuit. I didn’t like that.
Solution: Put bathroom fan on a smartplug. Then; using this method, my Hue Switch’s ON button only turns on the light. But holding the ON button turns on the fan (ie. dummy bulb 10%) I could have hired an electrician to separate the light and fan; but naw.